The House of Librarians for the Promotion of Reading among Children and Young People

The House of Librarians for the Promotion of Reading among Children and Young People

The House of Librarians for the Promotion of Reading among Children and Young People (HLPR), a non-governmental organization affiliated to the Children’s Book Council (Iranian National Section of the IBBY), was founded in 2004 in order to serve as a home for all those involved in reading promotion among children and youth through innovative ways. As the first organization to promote reading in Iran, HLPR has added depth and expanded the very concept of reading promotion.

Major parts of the activities are carried out on a voluntary basis. Funding is through membership fees, donations, sales of books and toys.

HLPR as a potential platform has always welcomed anyone with a passion for reading promotion. We envision empowerment through reading and discovering the joy of reading experience is our mission. Interestingly, this “house”, is more than the individuals that are forming it; many enter this building and engage in shaping its novel experiences. However, gradually we realized that HLPR is the one leading us towards new horizons and possibilities that we never thought about, as if it has a spirit of its own!

What do we do?

Libraries

To reach our goals, we’ve formed 3 libraries, run by 5 professional staff, one for children of 0 to 14 years old with more than 10000 books, magazines, posters, maps, documents, toys, audio, tactile, wooden books and resources for children with special needs. one for teenagers of 15 to 18 years old and the reference library for families containing more than 8000 books and other materials on theoretical and practical aspects of children’s literature and librarianship.

Currently we have 3211 members. New members could start off their journey to the land of reading by joining our reading cycle and family basket projects.

Workshops and events

Considering our approach in forming and giving rise to the events, we encounter numerous possibilities are born here there and actualized, to invoke the joy of reading, some examples are:

For us, reading involves interpretation, construction of meaning and the capacity of experience. Therefore we provide opportunities for:

Art

Play

Performance arts

Digital storytelling, etc.

Contributions to the society

Courses for children librarians and reading promoters

Organizing different book exhibitions

Establishment of Libraries in rural areas

Free consultancy to children libraries, promoters and librarians as a trusted source of knowledge and experience at this matter

Collaboration with other NGO’s to make our projects practical

Student book basket project in schools

Our organization is organized without really being organized centrally. Ideas flow and experiences are formed from the multiplicity of sources and ideas are not the ideas of someone. In this journey many things are indeterminate at the beginning and gain form and determination in the path.

We are practicing organizing without organizing, leading without leading and extending the borders of experience.